Born in Orange county New York on the ninth day of July, 1816. In 1825 he removed to New York City and there grew to manhood. On the 29th day of October, 1841, he left his native state to seek a permanent location in the great west beyond the Mississippi river. On the 20th day of November of the same year after ascending the Mississippi in one of the small steamers in use at that time, he landed at Keokuk, then a little town in the Black Hawk Purchase. In May 1843 he removed to Monroe County, Iowa, where he bought land to farm. In September 1845, he married Miss Mary E. Rankin of Davis county. He moved to Albia when he became a county judge until the spring of 1860 when he moved back to his farm. As county judge he built the court house in 1858 and '59. He was elected in October 1871, to represent this county as a member of the Fourteenth General Assembly.